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Social Security

02/19/2019

“Thieves are using a high-tech trick to make someone else’s name or number fraudulently show up on your Caller ID.”

Just when you thought you knew how to keep con artists from ripping you off, here comes a new scam. This one is particularly devious. It involves Social Security and your telephone. Scammers are tricking Caller ID to make you think they are calling from a government agency.

How the Scam Works

Let’s say you have Caller ID on your phone. Before answering, you check to see who is calling. If you do not recognize the number, you let the call go to voice mail. Most telephone crooks do not leave recorded messages.

In this new scam, your Caller ID will say that the call is from 800-772-1213, which is the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) national customer service number. Thinking it is a safe caller, you answer. The person on the phone asks you to verify your name, address, Social Security number and date of birth. DO NOT give out this or any other personal or financial information over the phone, even to someone who appears to call from the Social Security Administration.

Thieves are using a high-tech trick to make someone else’s name or number fraudulently show up on your Caller ID. The call is not from the Social Security Administration. It is a crook trying to steal your information. This example is only one of several variations on this new con game. Now that fraudsters have this technology, they can “hijack” anyone’s name or telephone number to make it appear on your Caller ID.

How You Can Know if the Call is a Scam

Even though these crooks are extremely deceptive, several clues will tell you if just hang up the phone. Here are some tips:

If the caller – any caller – asks for your Social Security number, hang up. Legitimate government agencies do not ask for your Social Security number over the telephone. Your bank and other companies will not ask for this information over the phone.

If the caller asks for your date of birth, full legal name, or address, end the call at once. Real agencies and reputable companies do not ask for these things.

If the caller asks for your bank account or other financial information, hang up. Your bank already knows this information and other people do not need it.

If the caller threatens to terminate your Social Security benefits, if you do not confirm your Social Security number, hang up. The SSA will not call up and threaten you or ask for your Social Security number. The SSA makes all of its requests for information in writing via US Mail, not by telephone.

If the caller promises to approve or increase your Social Security or other benefits, it is a scam call. Hang up.

What You Should Do

The government wants to know about suspicious calls that claim to be from the SSA. Report these calls to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The phone number is 800-501-2102. The number for the hearing-impaired is 866-501-2101. You could also go to the OIG’s website at oig.ssa.gov/report to let them know about the call.

Talk with an elder law attorney near you, to see if your state’s regulations vary from the general law of this article.

11/23/2018

“Evaluating when to start drawing Social Security, can affect your taxes and how big your retirement check will be for the rest of your life.”

The question of when you should collect your Social Security retirement benefits, differs from the age at which you should stop working. You can quit working, but wait to draw a Social Security check. You can also keep working past the age at which you qualify for retirement benefits, and choose whether you want to get your “day job” paycheck and a Social Security check or wait until a later date to get your check from Uncle Sam.

If You Plan to Quit Working Before Your Full Retirement Age, Delay Collecting Social Security

The money you get every month as Social Security retirement benefits will depend on:

How much you paid into the Social Security system. A person who earned $100,000 a year paid more in Social Security and Medicare taxes than someone who made $20,000 a year. The higher wage-earner will get a larger Social Security retirement check than the lower wage-earner. Your highest earning years are likely to be toward the end of your career.

How long you paid into the Social Security system. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will calculate your monthly check using your average taxable wages for your 35 highest-earning years. If you did not work for 35 years, all the years you did not work will count as $0 each, which will bring down your average earnings. Working a few more years can prevent this from happening.

Your age when you retire. You will get your entire amount of retirement benefits. if you wait until full retirement age to draw your Social Security checks. Full retirement age used to be age 65, but it is now between 65 and 67, depending on the year of your birth. If you get benefits before your full retirement age, the SSA will penalize you with lower checks for the rest of your life. Waiting until age 70, will add a substantial bonus to your checks.

To maximize your Social Security check, consider delaying when you draw your checks until your full retirement age or until age 70.

Working During Retirement Can Reduce Your Social Security Check

If you collect your Social Security benefits and then work either full-time or part-time, the government might keep part of your Social Security checks. If you are below your full retirement age, they will cut your check by $1 for every $2 you make above that year’s limit.

In the months before full retirement age, the SSA will keep $1 for every $3 you earn over the annual maximum. Once you hit full retirement age, you can work and earn as much as you want with no reduction of your Social Security check.

There is More to Life Than Money

If you are a person who prefers to live in the moment and not stress about what will happen years later, go ahead and draw your Social Security check when you feel like it, regardless the long-term financial consequences. Delayed gratification can make people so unhappy, that having the money right now is worth the financial penalty. Only you can make the call on this issue.

The law in every state is different, and this article is about the general law. Talk with an elder law attorney in your area.

07/02/2018

“Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, so some people get an unpleasant surprise when they apply for benefits and find out they will not be getting that monthly check at all.”

If you are getting to the stage at which you are thinking about retiring, you must know how much money you will have. Although the Social Security Administration warns people to consider Social Security as only a supplement to the money they have saved on their own for their golden years, most people actually rely on Social Security, for most, if not all, of their income after they stop working.

There are two requirements for Social Security retirement benefits - age and work credits. You must satisfy both factors to get a Social Security check.

Age. You must wait until you reach a predetermined age, before the Social Security Administration (SSA) will send you that monthly check. People born before 1943 can retire at age 65. People born between 1943 and 1954 can retire at age 66. Full retirement age creeps up two months for every year from 1955 to 1959. People born in 1960 and later can retire at age 67.

What if you made a fortune early? Let’s say you started a company and amassed $10 million by the time you were 30. You paid your taxes, and now you want to retire. You can live off of the money you have earned, but your SSA check will not begin until you reach your retirement age.

What about early retirement? If you meet all the other requirements for Social Security retirement benefits, the SSA will allow you to retire a few years early. However, it will cost you. Your check will be lower for the rest of your life, if you retire at your early retirement age, instead of your full retirement age. For example, if you retire at age 62, your check will be only about 70 percent of a full retirement age benefits check.

Do you have to retire at your full retirement age? You may keep working, if you want or need to. The SSA will give you a bonus on every monthly check you get for the rest of your life, if you work past your full retirement age (FRA), up to a point. For example, if your FRA is 67, the SSA will increase your Social Security checks for every additional year you work, up to age 70.

Do you automatically get a Social Security check when you hit your retirement age? You must also have enough work credits.

Work credits. You can only get Social Security retirement benefits, if you paid into the system long enough. You must work for at least ten years at a job that deducts Social Security taxes from your paycheck and sends the money to the SSA. For each quarter (three months) you worked and earned enough SSA-taxed income, you get one work credit. People born after 1928 must accumulate 40 work credits to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.

This does not mean you should work only ten years. The SSA will calculate your check by using the average of your 35 highest-paying years. If you only work ten years, there will be 25 years with zero income, which will bring your average down to very little. Some people just get a few hundred dollars a month from Social Security, because they worked less than 35 years.

Planning for your retirement is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Talk with an elder law attorney in your area to get information on your state’s regulations, as the rules vary from one state to another.

07/01/2018

“Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, so some people get an unpleasant surprise when they apply for benefits and find out they will not be getting that monthly check at all.”

If you are getting to the stage at which you are thinking about retiring, you must know how much money you will have. Although the Social Security Administration warns people to consider Social Security as only a supplement to the money they have saved on their own for their golden years, most people actually rely on Social Security, for most, if not all, of their income after they stop working.

There are two requirements for Social Security retirement benefits - age and work credits. You must satisfy both factors to get a Social Security check.

Age. You must wait until you reach a predetermined age, before the Social Security Administration (SSA) will send you that monthly check. People born before 1943 can retire at age 65. People born between 1943 and 1954 can retire at age 66. Full retirement age creeps up two months for every year from 1955 to 1959. People born in 1960 and later can retire at age 67.

What if you made a fortune early? Let’s say you started a company and amassed $10 million by the time you were 30. You paid your taxes, and now you want to retire. You can live off of the money you have earned, but your SSA check will not begin until you reach your retirement age.

What about early retirement? If you meet all the other requirements for Social Security retirement benefits, the SSA will allow you to retire a few years early. However, it will cost you. Your check will be lower for the rest of your life, if you retire at your early retirement age, instead of your full retirement age. For example, if you retire at age 62, your check will be only about 70 percent of a full retirement age benefits check.

Do you have to retire at your full retirement age? You may keep working, if you want or need to. The SSA will give you a bonus on every monthly check you get for the rest of your life, if you work past your full retirement age (FRA), up to a point. For example, if your FRA is 67, the SSA will increase your Social Security checks for every additional year you work, up to age 70.

Do you automatically get a Social Security check when you hit your retirement age? You must also have enough work credits.

Work credits. You can only get Social Security retirement benefits, if you paid into the system long enough. You must work for at least ten years at a job that deducts Social Security taxes from your paycheck and sends the money to the SSA. For each quarter (three months) you worked and earned enough SSA-taxed income, you get one work credit. People born after 1928 must accumulate 40 work credits to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.

This does not mean you should work only ten years. The SSA will calculate your check by using the average of your 35 highest-paying years. If you only work ten years, there will be 25 years with zero income, which will bring your average down to very little. Some people just get a few hundred dollars a month from Social Security, because they worked less than 35 years.

Planning for your retirement is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Talk with an elder law attorney in your area to get information on your state’s regulations, as the rules vary from one state to another.

05/15/2018

“Older couples have found out the hard way that getting married later in life, can throw a wrench into more than just inheritance.”

If your parent gets “serious” about someone he is dating, you might have mixed feelings. While you do not want your parent to be lonely, new romantic relationships for older adults come with complications that younger couples do not face. When your parent, who has been single, divorced, or widowed, contemplates marriage, you might wonder, can your older parent’s new spouse swipe your inheritance?

The short answer is yes without proper legal planning. The new blushing bride or groom can claim part of the estate, if your parent dies first. The precise percentage of the estate going to the surviving spouse can vary between one-third and over one-half depending upon circumstances.

How Can an Older Adult Protect Her Child’s Inheritance If She Remarries?

There is no way to guarantee your children’s inheritance when you remarry, unless they are under the age of eighteen. Minor children usually have a claim to a portion of a deceased parent’s estate. Once your kids turn 18, however, they do not have an automatic right to inherit from you.

You can sign a prenuptial agreement before getting married and write new wills after you get married, but people have successfully busted prenups and contested wills. They are not written in stone. Once you are gone, your surviving spouse could go back on her word and challenge these documents. If a judge sets aside the will and prenup, the widow could demand her legal share of your estate.

Alabama is unique among states because it’s law allows a spouse to be completely disinherited if your parent’s assets are owned by a living trust that avoids probate. A trust can also be contested just like a Will but it is more difficult than a will and as long as the trust was created when your parent had mental capacity and was under no undue influence it will be upheld.

What Other Fall-Out Can Happen When Seniors Marry?

Older couples have discovered the hard way, that getting married later in life can throw a wrench into more than just inheritance. Remarriage can cause a senior to lose Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Tying the knot can make you ineligible for your former spouse’s pension, Social Security retirement or disability income, and alimony.

More couples over the age of 55 are skipping the altar than ever before. In just the last decade, the numbers have jumped 75 percent. Many are living together as unmarried couples. Some have a ceremony that does not create legal rights.

The financial consequences of remarriage later in life can be severe to the new spouses, their children, and grandchildren. To protect yourself and your family, talk with an elder law attorney in your area. State law will control most issues, and the laws vary from one state to the next. This article discusses the general law.

05/07/2018

“SSDI and SSI have different eligibility requirements. You might qualify for one program but not the other, or you might qualify for both.”

It is easy to confuse Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), since their names are similar and the Social Security Administration (SSA) runs both programs. If you are considering applying for benefits, you might be asking yourself, What is the difference between SSDI and SSI? SSDI and SSI have different eligibility requirements. You might qualify for one program but not the other, or you might qualify for both.

What is SSDI?

SSDI pays monthly cash benefits to disabled or legally blind individuals, who meet the SSA’s standards for disability and the “work credits” requirements for the program. If you get SSDI, you also receive Medicare coverage. Your state adds no supplement to your SSDI benefit. The SSA calculates your monthly check, based on your lifetime earnings. Your dependents can receive SSDI benefits, if you qualify.

What is SSI?

SSI pays monthly cash benefits to low-income disabled, blind, and elderly people with few assets. If you get an SSI check, you also receive Medicaid coverage. Most states add a state supplement, meaning they give SSI recipients cash in addition to the amount the SSA pays them. The SSA determines your monthly check by starting with the Federal Benefit Rate, which is a standard amount, then subtracting your countable income, and then adding your state supplement. The SSA does not pay dependent SSI benefits.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements for SSDI?

People with physical or mental impairments that prevent them from working, might be eligible for SSDI benefits. Qualifying for SSDI is a three-part process. You must:

Have a severe medical or mental condition that meets the SSA’s standards for disability, and

Cannot do any kind of work for at least 12 months, and

Have worked long enough at a job that paid into the Social Security system, to have enough work credits for your age.

SSDI benefits have an income limit. You are not eligible for SSDI benefits, no matter how severe your medical or mental condition, if you earn more than $1180 (for non-blind individuals) or $1970 (for blind persons) per month in 2018.

You earn work credits for every three-month block (quarter) that your employer deducts money from your paycheck for Social Security. The older you are, the more work credits the SSA requires, since you have had more time to accumulate the credits than a younger person.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements for SSI?

Congress designed SSI benefits as a safety net for people who are disabled, aged, or blind, but do not meet the requirements for SSDI benefits. SSI does not require work credits. You must have very little income and countable assets of only $2000 for an individual or $3000 for a couple.

Can You Get Both SSDI and SSI?

You may get both SSDI and SSI benefits, if you meet the requirements for both programs. You must meet the disability standards, have enough work credits for your age, cannot work for at least a year, and have very little income and few countable assets to qualify for both programs.

Your state might provide different benefits than the general rules discussed in the article. Talk with an elder law attorney in your area.

02/12/2018

“The CRR at Boston College looked at the data on the effect that caregiving responsibilities have on mothers' benefits.”

Think Advisor’s recent article asks, “Will Motherhood Cut Your Social Security Benefits?” A brief from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College examined data on the effect that lingering caregiving responsibilities—time lost from work for childbearing and child rearing—can have on women. They discovered that it takes a financial toll not just on lifetime earnings, but also on Social Security benefits.

Using the Health and Retirement Study linked to administrative earnings records, the researchers focused on three questions in determining whether, and how much, motherhood might cost women in Social Security benefits. They said that “[i]f motherhood lowers earnings, and these losses are not made up later, then having children could give rise to a career’s worth of lower annual earnings, which would result in significantly smaller Social Security checks.”

However, most studies target reductions in women’s earnings only in the years in which their children are young. This means the extent to which motherhood is associated with lower earnings throughout mothers’ entire working lives isn’t well understood.

Since Social Security has a progressive benefit formula to compensate lower earners by allowing them to keep a higher share of their earnings, it wasn’t clear if the motherhood penalty also ran over into Social Security benefits.

Researchers first studied how much less mothers earn during their careers, compared to childless women and how much less they earn for each additional child. The amount is significant: lifetime earnings of mothers with one child are 28% less than the earnings of childless women, with all other factors being equal. Each additional child also decreases lifetime earnings by another 3%.

There’s also the question of how Social Security benefits differ between mothers and nonmothers. The motherhood penalty is smaller than the earnings penalty. However, those with one child still receive 16% less in benefits than non-mothers, and each additional child reduces benefits by another 2%.

The study also examined how each of the existing elements of the Social Security system that indirectly help mothers—the spousal benefit and the progressivity of the benefit formula—contribute to reducing the motherhood penalty. The results showed that while the per-child motherhood penalty is extremely small among women receiving spousal benefits, mothers who receive benefits on only their own earnings histories see drastically less in Social Security income than childless working women, and for each child.

The researchers concluded that mothers wind up less well off in economic terms, when spousal benefits aren’t available. If receiving spousal benefits continues its likely decline, there is discussion on whether policymakers may want to look at compensating women for their lost earnings due to motherhood.

01/07/2018

“The new tax plan ill use the Chained CPI method of calculating inflation for tax purposes instead of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) currently uses.”

Rumors and speculation fill the air about President Trump’s proposed tax bill, which bears the official moniker, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. If you have been listening to the news, reading the paper, or talking with friends, you could be asking, how might the new tax bill affect Social Security?

For the 34% of Americans receiving Social Security benefits who rely on it for at least 90% of their retirement income, the prospect of losing even a small portion of their monthly checks strikes terror in the heart. Since millions of seniors live below the poverty level with no safety net, even a slight reduction in their primary or only source of income could mean hardship and hunger.

New Math

The new tax plan would use the Chained CPI method of calculating inflation for tax purposes instead of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) currently uses. Both methods examine financial data to determine how much inflation happened during a year, but the Chained CPI assumes that people will just switch to less expensive goods when the prices go up. What are the less expensive goods that we can switch to from milk, eggs, and health insurance?

Why the COLA Calculation Matters to Social Security Recipients

Every year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) decides if Social Security benefits will get a raise. If the CPI-W showed that there was inflation as of the third quarter of the year, Social Security checks will be higher the next year, because they will receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). If there was no inflation or if there was deflation, there will be no change, as Social Security checks cannot go down.

Indirect Impact of the New Tax Plan on Seniors

The tax plan will double the standard deduction and water down the state and local itemized deductions. These two changes will wipe out the tax benefit of making contributions to charities. Many seniors count on charitable organizations for some of the goods and services they need to survive.

There Might Be a Silver Lining

Using the Chained CPI is expected to result in less generous COLAs. Lower COLAs mean that the Social Security system will deplete its reserves more slowly. Using the current method of calculating COLAs, the Social Security system is expected to take in less money from paycheck withholdings than it pays out in benefits by the year 2022, and run out of reserves completely by the year 2034.

As with any legislation, things can change quickly, and your state’s laws may affect how the new tax plan, if passed, will impact you. You should talk with an elder law attorney in your area to protect your rights.

11/08/2017

“You must already have enough work credits to qualify for benefits, in order to use the SSA Retirement Calculator. However, if you cannot use that calculator, you can probably use one of the other benefit calculators the SSA provides on their website.”

Very few people have enough money in their retirement savings to survive, without at least some help from Social Security. We pay into the Social Security system for 30 or 40 years or more through the money taken out of our paychecks. Therefore, we should be able to count on getting a monthly check when we retire. When planning for your retirement, one of the many things you must figure out is how you will pay your bills and living expenses. This posting discusses the subject of retirement planning basics – how to determine your Social Security benefits.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) makes it easy to estimate how much money you will get from them when you retire, using their online Retirement Estimator. The number you get is only an estimate. If you make more or less money in the future or the laws change, your monthly check could be a different amount.

You must already have enough work credits to qualify for benefits to use the SSA Retirement Calculator. However, if you cannot use that calculator, you can probably use one of the other benefit calculators on the SSA website. These include:

Life Expectancy Calculator, which helps you find a ballpark number on how long a person of your gender born in the year you were born is expected to live. This will give you a feel for how many years your money may need to last.

Online Calculator, you can use to estimate the retirement or disability benefits you could receive, based on your date of birth and your complete earnings history. It is possible to estimate your future earnings until you retire. You can request your complete earnings history by using this form.

Early or Late Retirement Calculator will let you play around with several “what if” scenarios. You can get an estimate of your monthly Social Security check if you retire at any of a wide range of ages, from early retirement to full retirement age to past full retirement age. It enables you to see how much it will affect your benefits, if you retire at 62 or 65 or 68 or 70 or later.

How the SSA Calculates Your SS Retirement Benefit

You must have at least 40 work credits to qualify for Social Security. You earn one work credit for every quarter (3 months) that you work enough hours at a job that takes money from your paycheck and sends it to Social Security. It takes ten years of working at this level to qualify for any Social Security retirement benefits. People without 40 work credits either continue working until they earn enough work credits or try to qualify on the work record of the current or former spouse.

If you have enough work credits to qualify, your monthly check will depend on your average earnings during your 35 highest-earning years and your age when you retire. If you did not work for at least 35 years, some years will have a zero for their earnings, which will affect your total average earnings.

For many years, 65 was full retirement age. The age is gradually increasing, so that for a person born in 1960 or later, the age of full retirement is 67. If this person retires early, her check will be lower than the standard amount. If she continues working past age 67, her monthly check will be higher than the standard amount, but only up to a point.

This posting discusses the general law. It is always best to talk with an elder law attorney in your area.

11/07/2017

“Keep the decedent’s bank account open for at least two months, and return to the SSA any uncashed checks you receive on his behalf.”

As if you did not have enough things to manage when your loved one dies, you also must notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) right away, unless the funeral home does it for you. Some people mistakenly assume that if the checks keep coming, they can use the money for things like paying the funeral and burial costs or paying off the debts of the deceased. The SSA will demand that money back and can even take legal action against you. Therefore, here are steps to take when a Social Security beneficiary dies.

Who to Contact

Call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213 (the TTY line is 1-800-325-0778 for deaf or hard of hearing) to notify them of your loved one’s death and to get his benefits checks stopped. Also contact the bank and ask them to return to the SSA any money from Social Security beginning the month after the death. The bank will require a certified death certificate from your local vital statistics bureau. Keep the decedent’s bank account open for at least two months, and return to the SSA any uncashed checks you receive on his behalf.

Social Security Giveth, Social Security Taketh Away

When a Social Security beneficiary dies, Social Security will pay a lump-sum death benefit of $255 to the eligible surviving spouse or child. The payment is not automatic. You must apply for it.

The SSA will also take away the last Social Security benefit payment your deceased loved one received. A person must be alive the entire month to be eligible for the monthly Social Security check. The SSA does not pro-rate benefits checks. The SSA treats a person who dies on the 5th day of the month the same as someone who dies on the 29th day of the month, although the person who lived until the 29th had 24 more days of living expenses than the other person.

Social Security checks are for the previous month’s expenses, not the current month. The check you get in February is for your January expenses. If a person dies on February 8, for example, her survivors must return the check they receive in March, since she did not live through the entire month of February.

Survivor Benefits

Besides the one-time death benefit, you may be eligible for survivors’ benefits when your loved one dies. Contact the SSA to see if you or other family members are eligible. Under certain circumstances, these family members may be entitled to a monthly benefits check:

Widow or widower who is age 60 or older

Disabled widow or widower who is age 50 or older

Widow or widower regardless of age, if serving as a caregiver for a disabled or under age 16 child of the deceased

Disabled child of the deceased

Child of the deceased who is age 18 or 19

Stepchild, adopted child, grandchild or step-grandchild

Surviving divorced spouse

Parents of the deceased, if they are 62 years old or older and the deceased provided at least half of their support

Your local elder law attorney can give you a handy checklist of things you must do when your loved one dies. Since the laws are different in every state, talk with an elder law attorney in your area.